Lea...

Lea...  We're at the veterinary hospital with her right now, waiting until her first treatment is finished and we can take her home.

First, some good news: the two most likely places for canine melanoma (the kind of cancer she has) to metastasize outside the mouth are the lymph nodes and the lungs.  The first order of business here today was some more sophisticated diagnostics to assess that, and ... she's clear on both fronts.  No sign of any movement of the cancer outside her mouth.

After consulting with the oncologist here, we decided to opt for radiation treatment to the areas of her head where there are likely some cancerous cells remaining after the surgery.  The side effects of such localized radiation treatments are minimal, and we don't think they're likely to impact Lea's quality of life in any significant way.  The most likely outcome of this treatment is that we'll have three to six months more with Lea in good shape ... which is probably not much different than we'd have had even if she was disease-free, given her age.

The oncologist (Dr. Burke) was great at giving us straight answers to our questions, and at providing advice and recommendations.  We never felt any pressure to take any particular route, but we felt well-informed to make a good decision.

Debbie had a great idea for this visit: she brought Lea's favorite blanket, the one she spends most nights lying on.  Lea is normally very nervous at the vet, trembling in fear – but not today.  She even fell asleep a few times while we were waiting...

For now, we just wait for her to come out of that first treatment...